The Economic Downturn: Lipstick Department
by xRavenxRobinx
Summary: Jump City was facing a economic collapse and the Titans had accepted the government's request to work in the city, (as in like taking up a job and work in a shop). Prank calls and lipsticks are involved in bring Robin and Raven closer. The question now is: How? RobinxRaven Rated for safety.


Hey guys :) I've been wanting to write this for a while now, I mean like, since last year. I guess I should grab the opportunity to write it since it's school holiday now. I was inspired by a Youtube video to write this story. So yea...

Enjoy.

* * *

**The Economic Downturn**

_The Titans have led a humdrum life; saving lives, eating, sleeping and some occasional lunches at the Pizza Place. But it was until now that their lives had changed..._

"Woah... Dude! The pet shop's closed!"

"Didn't you read the papers today? Jump and the neighboring cities are facing an economical downfall. Many of the shops here are seriously affected by it," Cyborg stated as he smacked Beast Boy's head.

"Um... What's that?" Beast Boy pointed to a crowd of people dashing towards Pizza Place.

"Uh... Robin, I think—" Raven was cut off by his stubborn leader.

"It looks like they're in trouble." Robin shot up from his seat and discarded his pizza. "Titans go!"

"Arghh... Pathetic."

Raven rolled her eyes and went into action.. because of her retardedly stupid leader. It was just...

"Yo! Rob, why does it seems like they're running towards..." Beast Boy screamed hysterically, finishing Cyborg's sentence, "US!"

Soon, the Titans were blinded by the horrendous flashing of light from cameras and surrounded by people with microphones and recorders pointing at their faces.

"Hi, this is Susan Moore from Jump News. Jump City is facing an economical problem. Do you guys know that?"

"This is Sammy from JC Paper. So, Jump City is facing an economical downfall. What are you Titans are going to do to help Jump overcome this problem?"

"Please tell us what you guys are going to do to help."

Millions of questions were thrown to them and the reporters were pushing each other in the crowd to get to the heroes. Everyone of them had a 100 watts smile plastered on their faces.

Raven was about to blast them off with her infamous mantra when Robin grabbed her wrist to stop her. Raven looked at him as if he had two heads.

Big mistake.

The crowd gasped and the photographers were snapping more pictures of them. Beast Boy was chuckling away as both the birds shared confused looks.

"Robin and Raven, two of Jump City's heroes. Tell us, are you two having an affair?"

"Huh? What? I..." Robin was lost for words.

Raven wrenched his hand off her wrists and glared at him and hit him hard in the head. The reporters snickered at Raven's reaction.

"No, I—" Raven turned her attention to the walking traffic light, "Say comething!"

Robin cleared his throat, "So back to the question. Yes, we—"

A woman in pink raised her microphone that was tagged "Channel-Jump Newz" and stated, "Our government has requested that the Jump City heroes are to take up a job. Will you take up this challenge to save our city?"

All the eyes were focused on Robin, green ones, amethyst ones... The heroes were hoping that their leader would decline the challenge. Robin sighed, "We'll accept that request."

"WHAT?!"

"You're the one who asked me to say something!"

"I told you to say something smart!"

"Well then, why don't you say something?"

"Those reporters were looking at us. They thought I was..." Raven wanted to gag at that memory when the reporters misunderstood them as a couple. "I can't believe they thought we're having an affair!"

Beast Boy snickered, "That's because you two were behaving like a pair of couples."

Raven glared daggers at him, "I'm gonna castrate you!"

~RxR~

"Good evening Jump Citizens! This is Kelly Cooper," a female newscaster greeted. "... And this is Charles Stevens," a male newscaster greeted. Both of them said in unison, "Welcome to Jump News!"

"Charles, what do you think of our Jump heroes, Robin and Raven?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well, because," the female newscaster paused, "They're actually having an affair!"

"Really?" Charles gasped dramatically.

"Yes. Let us look at this..." Kelly gestured towards the TV in between them. The TV replayed the whole scene that had happened that afternoon.

"Jump City is facing an—" the TV screen tuned blank.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" the leader looked up at the culprit who switched off the TV.

"Because it's ridiculous! I mean... look at that! We're just friends and colleagues. There's nothing between us. But they... I don't know how, they thought we're a couple or something. God, am I in Star's body?"

Robin sighed and patted the seat on the couch besside him, motioning her to sit, "I'm sorry, okay?"

"It's just... just... It's too late to fix it. Now everybody knew."

Robin smirked, "So... can you please return the remote back?"

"No," the sorceress said monotonously.

"Come on," Robin pouted.

"Shut up."

"It's my mouth."

"Shut up or I'll send you to another dimension."

"You wouldn't dare." Robin really knew how to push her buttons.

"I will."

"Just give me the remote!" Robin launched himself at her.

"Stop it."

Robin was on top of her and pulled the remote at one end while Raven at another. Their grips were so strong that their knuckles thurned white. Robin attempted to wrench Raven's fingers off the remote, but to no avail. Raven 'accidentally' scratched his left arm.

"That show is ludicrous! No point watching!" Raven reasoned.

"Just give it back."

Raven managed to sit up. She kicked his shin hard. Robin groaned and Raven slipped the remote out of his hands. She sprinted to a corner of the common room. Robin walked towards her, "Pretty please?"

Raven clutched the remote close to her chest, "It's so embarrassing!"

"Then I'll watch a movie." Robin pouted, "Please?"

Raven looked at him skeptically, "No."

"Don't you trust me?"

"I..."

"Aww... Look at us, we're fighting over the remote like an old married couple," Robin's playful face turned to a stern one. "And it's not cute."

Raven bit her lips, what Robin had said previously echoed in her head. Trust.

Robin smirked, "That's okay...I have another one!"

He ran towards the cabinet and took out the spare remote. He held it up with a triumph grin plastered on his face.

_Arghh... Damn it! Cyborg always keeps a spare one in the cabinet! _Raven groaned inwardly.

"But it hurts that my favourite bird didn't trust me," Robin said.

Raven looked out of the glass panes, avoiding her leader's gaze. The sunset was beautiful as it colored the sky with purples and oranges while the sky folded over on itself, new shades of bruise and brown painting the clouds.

"I was just kidding. I know you trust me. You trust all of us. I know it even if you refuse to admit," Robin paused. "_He's_ gone."

"Yea." He smiled.

"So, you wanna join me?" Robin motioned to the couch. Raven raised a brow. Robin pointed at the screen, "It's Phineas and Ferb!"

"A cartoon?" she looked at him in amusement. "The cartoon's stupid."

Robin looked at her weirdly, "You watch this?"

"Nah. Melvin forced me to accompany her while she's watching."

"So you watched it before."

"No, while Melvin was watching, I was reading."

"Whatever," Robin turned his attention to the screen.

After a few minutes of silence, Raven asked Robin out of curiosity, "You like Candace?"

"Nah.. I personally prefer Vanessa. She's more... uh— cool, like you."

Raven could see pink creeping up his neck. She shrugged nonchalantly and accompanied him _while reading her book_.

"Now where the hell did you get that book?"

**Lipstick Department**

Cyborg and Robin were qualified to work in an automobile repair shop, considering that both of them knew how to repair their vehicles. Beast Boy worked as the delivery man in Pizza Place. Starfire and Raven found a job in the pharmacy.

Of course, all of them did not register using their hero-names. Robin became Richard Grayson, Cyborg became Victor Stone, Beast Boy was Garfield Logan, Starfire was Kori Anders, and Raven became Rachel Roth. This was to ensure that the civilians wouldn't stalk them or crowd around the company every day, creating unnecessary troubles to the employers.

Mr Jenkins, Cyborg and Robin's employer, was very pleased with their earnestness in their work. Hence, Mr Jenkins decided to reward them a day off. Beast Boy applied for leave to join the boys. The girls did not even know that their team mates were having a day off.

"Man... It's so boring without the girls," Cyborg commented.

An idea popped into Robin's head. He grinned, "What about we get them to join us?"

"Wh-What? How?" Cyborg and Beast Boy paused their games to look at the smirking leader.

~RxR~

_Ring! Ring!_

"Courtney? Could you answer the phone, please?"

A brunette ran towards the phone and picked it up.

"Hi. Is this the lipstick department?" a very deep voice spoke.

"Yes, this is CSV Phramacy. How many I help you?" Courtney started.

"Do you have a large variety of lipsticks?" the customer spoke. This person had a really weird accent. Her voice sounded so deep that Courtney suspected that the customer was a man. However, at the same time, the voice sounded feminine too.

"Um... Lipsticks?" she asked. There was something funny about the customer.

"Yea... Sticks that you put on your lips?"

"Yes...? We have Revlon, Lauriel..."

"Well, you see.. I'm a very big woman, and like my man satisfied." There was a loud puff heard on the phone... almost sounded like the customer at the end of the line was trying hard not to laugh. "I need a lipstick. So when we make out, he goes 'mmm...'"

Courtney laughed. The customer on the other side also sounded like she was on the verge of laughing too. "When he tastes it, I want him to taste," the customer continued, "The sweet taste of caramel." The voice faltered. Courtney laughed to hard that her stomach hurt. She could hear some snickering in the background at the other end of the line.

"Do you have those lipsticks?" the customer almost laughed. "Or do I need to go elsewhere?"

Coutney laughed so hard that she cried, "WHO IS THIS? This isn't funny!" It was so ironic, because while she was saying that, she was still laughing uncontrollably. There was a moan on the other end.

" This is hilarious, Rachel, talk to this person!"

~RxR~

Meanwhile in the tower, the boys were laughing like crazy once Courtney was out of earshot.

"Dude!"

"Man! Thank goodness I managed to fix the speaker in time!" Cyborg shook his head while laughing.

"Guys, quiet down! They'll hear you!" Robin warned in a hush tone.

"Hello? Thanks for calling CSV. This is Rachel Roth, how may I help you?" another voice spoke.

"It's Raven!" Beast Boy snickered. "This is so going to be interesting!"

~RxR~

"What is it, Courtney?" asked Starfire, concerned.

"Come here!" Courtney leaned her ear to the phone.

"Hi, do you have a large variety of lipsticks?" the caller repeated.

Weird. Raven found the voice... familiar. Like she had heard it before. "What? Woodsticks?"

~RxR~

Beast Boy fell off the couch laughing.

Robin clenched his fist. _What a low-quality phone!_ "Lipsticks. Lipsticks!"

~RxR~

Raven frowned and gritted her teeth, trying not to burst out laughing. It would be such a disrespect to customers! She can't help it. The voice was so funny, it was too dramatically deep to be a female's, but it was very feminine. Raven blurted, "Who is this? Are you homosexual or something?"

Raven immediately covered her mouth. _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_

Courtney heard that and laughed even harder. She saw the confused look on Kori's face and pressed the speaker button.

There was a grunt. "I'm a very big woman, and I like my man to be satisfied," the customer repeated patiently.

Starfire laughed as she heard the voice.

Raven blushed. _How could this woman be so... blunt?_

~RxR~

To add up to the mirth, Cyborg turned on the screen. They had convinced all the shops in Jump City to connect their surveillance camera to their headquaters. All of them saw pink on Raven's cheek.

"Aww... Raven's blushing!" Robin whispered.

"Sorry? What did you say?" Raven thought she heard something.

"Um... I was asking that if you have, by chance, caramel-flavoured lipsticks..." Robin was flustered, he continued in a breathy voice, "That I could smother all over my face."

~RxR~

Starfire giggled and Raven blushed even harder. "Um... no..."

Raven continued hastily, "But we do have strawberry flavour... watermelon..."

"How does it taste like? Is it as sweet as caramel?"

Raven repeated her mantra over and over again in her head. "Not really... They're still sweet, though."

Raven offered, "Do... Do you want to come over and try so that you can buy one of your liking?"

"Ahh... It is okay..."

"Oh no, it isn't. It is our responsibility to please every customer."

"It is okay..." The customer added hopefully, "But I really wanna know how the strawberry one taste like, though." With that, the customer hang up the phone.

Raven took a deep breath and put down the phone. The three of them went back to their work at the sight of their boss. Raven still wonder who that person was. She thought she had heard Robin.

~RxR~

"They girls are back!" Cyborg announced.

Beast Boy shot Raven and Starfire a mischievous look. Other than Beast Boy, everything was normal. Then again, Beast Boy was the only one with abnormal behaviour in the Tower.

Raven watched Robin closely. She glanced at him once in a while they were having dinner. She peeked at him from her book. She somehow suspected that Robin was the one who called earlier that day. However, she reasoned that he had work that day, it couldn't possibly he him.

While the team was approaching to their bedrooms for a good night's sleep, Beast Boy said something which made Raven think twice about her assumptions, "What a fun day we had! I think we should take leave more often and do this kind of stuff."

Raven scrutinized Robin. Robin tensed. He knew that Raven had been watching hinm ever since she arrived home. Even though his back was facing her, he could feel her eyes boring through him.

Only the two of them was left. Raven's room was at the end of the hallway while Robin was next to hers but nearer to the elevator. Robin turned and entered the code to open his door.

Raven can only take the chance, her last opportunity to clarify if the customer was him. She spun him around and pressed her lips to his. Robin was taken aback by the sudden movement.

He tasted something sweet... _Strawberry._

"_Mmm..._"

Robin moaned and wrapped his arms loosely around her waist. Raven smiled as she felt the warmth and tenderness of his lips against hers. He bit on her lip, and her lips parted. His arms tightened around her and his kiss got harder and hotter. Raven's fingernails teased the back of his neck and she felt him shiver. Raven deepened the kiss.

Eventually, they had to come up for air. They looked at each other, breathless. Robin was very flustered and Raven's cheeks became rosy.

Raven composed herself and smirked. "This is how strawberry lipstick tastes like."

* * *

So how is it? I hope it's funny enough.

Well, the Youtude video (that I mentioned earlier) is titled Prank Calls., posted by Youtuber: takutofan.

Please review.


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